E 711 
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memorial 
Hddrm 



on n « « 



milliam 
mcKinley. 




t'ery truly, 



n/ij\ //'. HOSIMER. 



MELMORIAL ADDRE^SS 



On the Life and 
;^Character ot 



William McKinley 



DELIVERED AT 
HOOPLE. N. D. 



September 19th, 1901 



BY 



BELN. W. HOSME.R. 



THfc LlbRAtiY OF 
CONGRESS. 


Two Copies 


Received 


FEB 2 


1903 


QCopjr.igni 


tntiy 


CtASS '^ 

1. U- '\. 


XXc No 


COPY 


B.' 



.4 
. Vis-, 



COPYRIGHT 1902 

HY BEN %V. HOSMEK 

riOOPLE, N. D. 



To uiv friends a)id daily associafcs at Hoople and 
vicinity, ivhose appreciation of my efforts to appropri- 
ately honor the memory of our late lamented Presi- 
dent is sincerely acknowledged, this little volume is 

gratefully inscribed. 

By the Author, 

BEN It: HOSMd:R. 



PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: 

When the news was flashed over the countr\- that 
President McKinley was dead, probably none of our 
western coninninities responded to the nniversal sor- 
row with more promptness and sincere devotion than 
did the people of the little village of Hoople, sitnated 
amid beautiful surroundings of timber and prairie in 
the heart of the Red River Valley. Their public 
hall was artistically decorated with flowers and drap- 
ery and the various insignia of mourning. On the 
day appointed for the funeral appropriate and touch- 
ing exercises were held, and the whole population 
turned out to give expression to their grief. 

The author of the following pages is one of the 
younger members of the bar in his judicial district, 
and was called upon to deliver an address suitable to 
the sad and memorable occasion; and the production 
of this little book is the result of his efforts to pro- 
nounce appropriate eulogy upon the life and character 
of our noble and illustrious president, and in response 
to the repeated and urgent requests of his friends for 
its publication. 

Hoople, N. Dak., Jan. ist, A. D. igo2. 



©ur /Ihait^ceb IPresibent. 



'Kt is (Bo^'s wap. 
Ibis Mill be ^onc, not ours.' 



TJNOTHER illustrious ruler has fallen. For the 
Jt third time in a generation we bewail the untime- 
ly death of a president. He who seemed to be with us 
but \ esterday, in the fulness of life's joys, in the plenti- 
^ude of his power, now lies cold in the stillness of death. 
Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley — the noble triumvirate 
of historic martyrdom — Lincoln, the victim of the 
last struggling agonies of expiring rebellion; Gar- 
field, sacrificed on the altar of political vengeance; 
McKinley, smitten by the poisonous serpent of 
anarchy. 

To-day we witness a most awful spectacle; a trag- 
edy more startling, more terrible in its import, has 



8 

never yet overwlK-lined the heart of humanity. 
Political revolution moving in its resistless course 
over the land could not have stirred the souls of men 
more profonndK-. The very thought of it is more 
horrifying than the images of the most hideous night- 
mare. A fiendish and diabolical act — at the seat of 
a great exposition, designed to bring into more har- 
monious relations all the peoples of this hemisphere, 
to illustrate the marvelous advances of modern indus- 
try and invention, to promote the peace, prosperity 
and happiness of the civilized world, our eyes behold 
the tragic scene. 

Words of wi.sdoni and a grand message of lo\e and 
universal peace had but a brief time before been de- 
livered from the taintless lips of our president; and 
as we see him bending his dignified form to clasp in 
fraternal greeting the outstretched hands of his coun- 
trvmen, and a little child has just departed from his 
benign presence, he is suddenh' smitten lo earth bv 
the red hand of murder. 

H\- a most remarkable coincidence, and as if de- 



sig-iied to impress upon ns more deeply the solemn 
lessons and snggestions of this hour, we are now as- 
sembled, fellow citizens, on the anniversaiy of another 
sad and mournful day, when on the distant shores of 
the Atlantic seas the spirit of the noble-hearted Gar- 
field took its flight from earth. Before the hour of 
midnight on the nineteenth day of September, eigh- 
teen hundred and eighty-one, after weeks and months 
of agony and heroic struggle, and within sight of 
the ocean's ''heaving billows," he breathed his last. 
But, is McKinley dead? IsGaifield dead? Is Lincoln 
dead? From all things earthly they have seemingly 
passed awav. But to us, their adoring and lamenting 
countrymen, they still live in the bright example of 
their grand and consecrated lives. They live in the 
influence which their careers, their principles, their 
opinions, now exercise, and will continue to exercise 
in the affairs of men. "A superior and commanding 
human intellect, a truly great man, when Heaven 
vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame burn- 
ing bright for a while and then expiriug,giving place 



lO 

to retiirnino^ darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent 
heat, as well as a radiant H.^ht, with power to en- 
kindle the common mass of liuman mind; so that, 
when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes 
ont in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world 
all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its 
own spirit." 

Time does not permit, nor indeed does the occasion 
specially require, that we dwell long upon the striking 
events of our late president's illustrious career. 
They are known to us all. His public life, his 
heroic devotion to duty, had their inception before 
he had fairly reached the threshold of manhood. In 
the dark days of '6i, in response to the appeals of 
our first great martyr, we behold him with shoul- 
dered musket marching manfully down to the .scenes 
of war; and on the battle-fields of his countr\' he 
consecrated his ardent and patriotic heart in a bap- 
tism of fire. In the councils of state, in the halls of 
national legislation, in the executive chair of his 
home state, and in the ](^fticst position in the gift of 



II 

his countrymen he has reached his proud eminence-. 
To-day the remembrance of him commands universal 
respect, inspires the admiration and appeals to the 
sympathy, of the whole world. His prophetic wis- 
dom, his patriotic spirit, his sincere and steadfast 
devotion to every duty of life, his kind and fatherly 
disposition, his unselfish regard for his aged parents, 
to the last moment of their lives, his sweet fellowship 
with his kindred everywhere, his bosom companion- 
ship, his manly affection, his tender, oh, so sweet 
and enrapturing love — unpolluted by the slightest 
taint of bestiality — his constant tenderness and solici- 
tude for the delicate angel companion of all his man- 
hood years, whom he cherished and adored above all 
earthly treasures, and for whose sake, if need be, he 
would gladly have abandoned all the allurements of 
earthly ambition, and in ministering, to whose 
comfort, joy and happiness he experienced his keen- 
est felicity; his incorruptible honor, his devout 
christian manhood, his calm dignity, his noble forti- 
tude, his disregard of self, his anxious thoughtfulness 



12 

of otliers, liis soldierij' and heroic conduct in the last 
hours of conscious existence, his steadfast trust in 
Alniiy^htv God — these are the qualities which inspire 
within us unspeakable love for him. By his admira- 
ble characteristics exhibited in the varied relations 
of strong and active manhood, his heroism when 
suddenly prostrated, wounded and bleeding, amid 
the scenes of that awful tragedy, in which he was the 
Hamlet — the central, the commanding figure — he 
reveals in striking relief qualities which had hitherto 
remained hidden from the sight of man, not paraded 
to the public gaze, but cherished within his heart. 
In the sudden and astounding revelation of such 
lofty motives we are seized with emotions which leap 
the very bounds of our admiration, and w^e stand ap- 
palled, as if transfixed by the magic wand of Divinity. 
Think of it, my friends, has such another marvel- 
ous scene been presented to the eyes of mortal man 
since the Saviour of the world thrilled hunuinily 
with his matchless words and deeds of miraculous 
wonder? In imagination we picture the scenes sur- 



13 

rounding the last days of William IMcKinley's career, 
with his beautiful and cherished wife restored to him 
after the painful tour to the Pacific coast. She 
seemed to him, and to all who had anxiously watched 
with him at her bedside, as if snatched from the very 
clutches of death. Again in sweet companionship 
with her, doubly dear to him for the crisis through 
which she has safely passed, we behold him, this 
venerable ruler, stepping down from the stately man- 
sion of power, to greet once more the hosts of his 
devoted countrymen. At the great exposition the 
enthusiastic throngs are thrilled by his venerable 
presence, charmed by his courtly manners, inspired 
with confidence and exultation by his good will for 
all, for his wise and statesmanlike declarations, his 
expressions of sincere gratitude at his warm welcome 
by the citizens, giving renewed and added proof of 
his great goodness of heart, his lively sympathy for all. 
And when the awful assault was made, that robbed 
us of our inestimable treasure, behold how heroically 
he meets his untimely doom. He still stands like a 



14 

soldier at his post, tlionoh pierced by mortal wounds, 
and suffering the most excruciating agony. 

Supported by his attendants, he walks upright to 
a seat near at hand, and to his private secretary, who 
bends in ministering devotion over the now prostrate 
form of his beloved chief, the president gasps in piteous 
tones, "My wife; be careful about her; don't let her 
know." And as he yields momentarily to his ex- 
treme agony and again rises above his distressing 
pain, and his eyes open, and he sees the infuriated 
and horror-stricken mob pouncing with mingled 
grief, indignation, and horror, upon the assassin, 
almost beside themselves with rage at the unprovoked 
attack, he calmly yet earnestly and with unexampled 
charity, and in words of benevolence, implores tho.se 
about him, "Let no one hurt the man;" and as the 
multitude, crazed by their heart-rending emotions, 
look upon his quivering form, as he bears up so 
nobly in the trying ordeal, upon the pale countenance 
with features .still kindling with benignity, even in 
his extreme agony, no wonder they involuntarily ex- 



15 

claim — "He is a soldier." Yes, he was a soldier in 
the broadest and highest meaning in which the term 
can be interpreted. And in his stricken condition 
he yet commanded, and the storm of angry and con- 
tending passions which raged abont him became 
subdned. When he was carried to the hospital no 
complaint escaped him, but he thoughtfully ob- 
served, "I am sorry to have been a cause of trouble 
to the exposition." And when his delicate wife was 
brought to his bedside, recalling uppermost in his 
mind the fearful crisis through which she had rec- 
ently passed, and in a boundless sympathy for her he 
said, "This is not our first battle." 

We need not dwell upon the political principles 
which our late president was accustomed to advocate 
in his public career. Some of them are still of a 
mooted character, and far be it from the sacred ob- 
jects of this occasioa and its heartrending associations 
to suggest by the slightest word or comment the lan- 
guage of controversy. He was the president of no 
creed, faction or party, and his sympathies and con- 



i6 

stant solicitude reached to the farthest limits of the 
republic over which he ruled. Gladly would he, 
even in his candidacy for his exalted office, have 
a^'oided any bitter antagonism of partisanship. He 
represented the whole country. He aimed to rule 
with impartiality, avoiding as far as possible any 
occasion for serious differences. Conciliatory in his 
communications, he was yet firm and resolute in 
carrying out the mandates of his convictions. His 
administration by common assent has been marvel- 
ously successful. The solemn pledges under which 
he was elected to the chief magistracy haV^een faith- 
fully kept. Within the brief time that has elapsed 
since his second inauguration the country has been 
becoming rapidly settled into a state of universal 
liarmony and good feeling unprecedented by any era 
since tlie historic times of James Monroe. When the 
president delivered his last address not a cloud 
darkened the political horizon; never was he more 
able, more statesmanlike, in his delivery. His last 
words have the ringing note of a splendid valcdictor}-; 



17 

one that could scarcely, have been more appropriate 
ill its sentinieiit had he known it would be his last 
formal declaration on earth. "Our earnest prayer is that 
God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness 
and peace to all our neighbors and life blessings to 
all the peoples and powers of earth." In no other 
public utterance did he manifest more profoundness 
of wisdom, more true nobility of character. 

But great as he was in life, surpassingly great was 
he in death. And as he takes his departure from the 
scenes of time and enters the dark valley of the 
shadow of death, he discloses most signally qualities 
of his character not hitherto prominently exhibited. 
He was a christian soldier of the loftiest type. When 
the anaesthetic was administered, not knowing but 
that consciousness might never return, he murmured 
inaudibly to all but the physician who bent over his 
prostrate form, "Thy Kingdon come, Thv will be 
done." In all the days of anxious solictude, when a 
nation watched prayerfully at the pale sufferer's bed- 
side, and we trembled as we awaited the latest tid- 



i8 



ings, with an anxiety that could scarcely ha\-e been 
surpassed if our own fates had hung in the uncertain 
balance, he alone was unshaken. He quailed not at 
the shadow of his impending fate. Where does his- 
tory record the incidents of a death scene more grand 
and sublime? The Father of his Country did not 
surpass, by his heroic conduct in the hour of death, 
the marvelous sublimity of William McKinley. 
"Nearer My God to Thee, Nearer to Thee. Good 
by all. Good bye. It is God's way. His will be 
done, not ours." And as his consecrated soul was 
wafted into the realms of eternity, and winged its 
upward flight to the throne of its God, methinks 
there was a scene of triumph, beyond the darkness of 
the Vale, grander than any ecstasy of success 
that had attended the manifold achievements of his 
brilliant career upon earth; indefinitely surpassing 
any spectacle of grandeur that has ever followed the 
homeward march of the mightiest earthly conqueror. 
My friends, we feel ''that on this occasion, although 
the saddest in which man\- of us have ever been called 



19 

upon to participate, that it is after all excee(lin<!;ly 
good to be here. We are met in obedience to the 
solemn proclamation of our new chief magistrate, 
that we "bow down in submission to the will of 
Almighty God, and pay out of full hearts our homage 
of love and reverence to the great and good President 
whose death has smitten the nation with gi^ grief" 
Glowing words of eulogy will be proclaimed all 
over the land today in richer abundance than has ever 
yet been known. The esteem and love in which all 
sections and classes held our lamented president tes- 
tify to his worth and greatness as a man and a ruler. 
When Lincoln died the severed bonds of national unity 
were just being successfully restored after their awful 
rending in the struggles of a gigantic war. The bit- 
terest feeling prevailed between the North and the 
South, and the unfathomed gulf which so long sepa- 
rated us had not been completely filled when William 
McKinley became president of the United States. 
But under his wise and beneficent rule that awful 
chasm has absolutely disappeared. North and South 



20 

are toda)- lianiioniously reunited, and drink in the 
fountains of fellowship and good will. The soil that 
drank so deeply from the life-blood of the noblest of the 
land is today moistened by the flowing tears of the 
countless multitudes who weep in stricken grief at the 
bier of William McKinley. But, Oh! the habiliments 
of woe, where that loved face was so often beheld, in 
the walks of private life and amid the scenes of pub- 
lic care; on the broad avenues of Washington, at the 
seat of executive power and responsibility, and among 
his daily associates, within tiie ever welcoming 
gates of Canton — the scenes of his earliest triumphs 
— where he laid deep and enduring the foundations 
of his public career; where that smiling, genial face 
scattered sunshine and made glad the hearts of old 
and young in his daily intercourse with them; within 
the hospitable doors of that now darkened home, the 
shrine of his devotion; in the great cities, in the cen- 
ters of industry, where the toiling thousands have so 
ollen looked into that noble countenance, and listened 
with rapture to the uuisicof that voice which is toda>' 



21 

hushed in the dark solitude of the tomb — who can 
console them, or stop the pangs of their quaking- 
hearts? The angelic wife, bereft of the noblest, the 
truest, the knightliest, the tenderest of companions — 
let a nation feel it a precious privilege to weep with 
her. 

Today industry is at a stand. The multitudinous 
sons of toil, whose welfare he ever labored to piomote, 
will shed copious tears of manly grief as they gather 
about and look for the last time on his face. Little 
children who have so often felt the warm pressure of 
that fatherly hand will mingle their tears with the 
tides of grief that cover the land. Beautiful flowers 
that are everywhere deposited as the sweet, modest 
emblems of love are bedewed with the moisture of 
heartrending bereavement; but from the altar of our 
united devotion there will arise sweet odors more 
fragrant than "incense kindled at the muses' flame." 
Monuments will rise to commemorate our noble dead; 
and the sculptor's hand will preserve his form in 
faultless symmetry. But the grandest monument 



22 

that can be erected to the name of William McKinley 
will not be one of stone. It will be infinitely more 
enduring. Broader than the ever widening limits of 
this republic, more lasting than the rock beneath its 
soil, loftier than the dome of the vaulting skies. 
Monuments of stone may indeed endure; they may 
stand throughout countless ages, undisturbed in the 
solidity of their massive structure, fit emblems of 
glorious events, or the illustrious lives which they 
commemorate. But none of these are proof against 
the destroying hand of Time. The lightning's bolt 
mav cleave their chiseled and polished surfaces. The 
undulations of the earthquake may heave their found- 
ations and cause their stately columns to totter and 
fall to the earth; the cyclone's resistless fury may 
rend their massive blocks asunder; and through the 
revolutions of countless ages the fragments of granite 
may be crumbled to dust, and in Time's crucible be 
reduced to the molecular forms of their original ele- 
ments. 

And how shall wc build a more lasting and endur- 

L.cFC. 



23 

ing moniiinent to the name of William McKinley? 
We can do it b}' cultiv^ating within us all the admir- 
able qualities that entered into his character; by 
practicing- every good habit and every good principle 
that animated his life. 

Public officials may not rise to his heights of states- 
manship and genius of leadership, but they must not 
fall below his standard of duty and obligation. The 
ambitious young man, vaulting into the arena of act- 
ive life, and emulous of William IMcKinley, and the 
high and responsible offices which he so acceptably 
filled, must be fired with an ardent and steadfast zeal 
to rise to the serene level of his exalted manhood; to 
feel in every waking moment within his innermost 
heart of hearts that it is better by far to possess a 
character like that of William McKinley than to be 
president of the United States. We must all labor in 
the construction of this monument as though its suc- 
cess depended primarily upon our supreme individual 
efforts. The adage is a wise one which says, 
"Heaven helps those who helps themselves." But 



24 

we must build our uieuiorial sliaft by sireuuous daily 
toil and, 

'Count that day lost \^ hose low desceiuliiig sun 
Views from thy hand no worthy action done." 

Every child that performs his or her daily tasks with 
cheerful obedience, and shuns the ways of sin, and 
goes about performing little deeds of kindness, speak- 
ing little words of love, will surely aid in the build- 
ing of this monument. Every father who, with dili- 
gent solicitude watches over and guides the little 
footsteps of those dependent upon his constant care, 
will assist most powerfully in its construction. Sweet 
motherhood needs not to be reminded that her part 
will be the holiest mission among all the builders. 

And if thou art a husband forget not the sacred 
vows that bind thee to the clinging partner of life's 
toil's, its joys and its griefs, and study to compre- 
hend the domestic life of William McKinley. Imi- 
tate his love, sweeter to the last moment of his con- 
.scious existence than all other earthly joys. If thou 
art a young nuin, and hast not > et taken a cherished 



25 

partner unto thy bosom, banish every youthful folly, 
make every manly virtue a habit before entering 
upon the sacred obligations of husband and father. 
The little word, "cherish," let gently fall from the 
lips of a dear and mutual friend of William IMcKinley 
and Ida Saxton on the eve of their marriage sank 
deep into his manly heart and has borne the fruits of 
true domestic felicity. And the lesson it teaches is a 
simple one: "Go and do thou likewise." And if thou 
art one of the hoary patriarchs of the land, with the 
flakes of advancing years falling gently about thee, 
withhold not thy wise counsels from us, but dispense 
them freely and graciously that we may all profit 
abundantly thereby. And let us all remember to 
practice more fully, as did our immortal president, 
all the principles of true Christianity, and become 
more ardent followers of Our Father in Heaven. By 
so doing we shall be able to realize the spotless char- 
acter of William McKinley. Then when our sum- 
mons comes to enter the dark valley, and be joined 
to the innumerable host, it will be without fear or trem- 



26 

blinj:^, for we shall be "sustained and soothed by an 
unfaltering trust." 

And as the glorious monument progresses we shall 
move upward with it into sublimer heights of glory; 
and we shall behold far below us in the darkening 
distance, consumed in the lurid flames of their own 
horrid lusts, the tottering strongholds of satanic power, 
crumbling into the dust of annihilation. 

The hours of this sad and memorable day are rap- 
idly flying. We need never hope to behold Itlieir 
return. Like the earthly career of him we so bitterly 
lament, they cannot be recalled; but let the lessons 
of the hour sink deep into our hearts; let their solemn 
import be deeply and powerfully felt; and we shall 
not retire from this occasion without a profound and 
.steadfast conviction of the duties which have de- 
volved upon us. 

And when the memorial which we have so de- 
voutly pledged ourselves to rear in commemoration 
of the great departed has risen far above the azure 
(IdHic— an obelisk of perfect symmetry, of fadeless 



27 

beauty — until its summit is illuminated by the light 
which surrounds the gateway of the Celestial City, 
we shall reap our reward. As its devoted builders 
lift the capstone to its place and raise their eyes in 
rapturous triumph upon the scene, they will behold 
near at hand, with no intervening gulf, the goal of 
their pilgrimage. And as the column of patient 
toilers moves forward in soldierly order, to receive 
their reward, each and all will be welcomed into the 
matchless presence of their Lord. One by one shall 
ja^ we be finally greeted by the joyous admonition, 
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant." And 
as we pass on to the scene of our final triumph, we 
shall at last behold the forms of our noble martyrs, 
clothed in the white robes of immortality, standing 
there, their faces radiant with the light of divinity, 
to orreet us and welcome us all into the Heavenlv 
Republic. 



EB 2 1903 



